Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have successfully tested a next-generation microgravity 3D printer called SpaceCAL. The tests were conducted as part of the Virgin Galactic 07 mission, a crewed sub-orbital spaceflight that launched on Monday (June 8).
During the 140-second test run, SpaceCAL 3D-printed four items from a liquid plastic called PEGDA, including models of the space shuttle and small tugboats called “Benchys,” which are traditionally used as benchmarks to evaluate a printer’s quality and performance (hence the name).
“SpaceCAL performed well in microgravity conditions in past tests on parabolic flights, but it still had something to prove,” said Taylor Waddell, a doctoral student and contributing researcher on the project. An idiom“This latest mission, funded by NASA’s Flight Opportunities program and support from Berkeley Engineering and Berkeley Space Center, allowed us to validate that this 3D printing technology is ready for space travel.”
3D printing technologies have exploded over the past decade, changing manufacturing forever. Early models were first printed using 3D pixels called voxels, which were meticulously mapped — dot by dot, layer by layer — into a 3D structure. Over the past five years, scientists have pushed the technology’s capabilities even further, creating more sophisticated and creative 3D parts in metals and all sorts of materials. biomaterials.
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SpaceCAL’s ground-based predecessor, simply called “computed axial lithography” (which is where CAL comes from), was developed by Hayden Taylor and his group at Berkeley. In 2017The scientists aimed to address the lack of 3D printing techniques that can print complex, specifically defined 3D geometries in a single printing step.
Instead of building structures from the bottom up, CAL used light to trigger the chemical hardening of projected patterns in the photosensitive resin, “thus producing a 3D part with arbitrary user-defined geometry in a single unit operation with a single development step.”
Curing of the design occurs as a result of a polymerization reaction in which the chemical building blocks in the resin bond into a chain or polymer under light, resulting in the precise and rapid formation of high-resolution, complex 3D structures.
CAL (and SpaceCAL) can produce complex parts in as little as 20 seconds, a notable improvement over printers that typically take hours to produce similar objects. The team also demonstrated the system’s versatility, successfully printing more than 60 different materials, including silicones, glass composites, and different biomaterials, according to the press release.
The ability to operate effectively in microgravity environments, where many other 3D printers struggle, makes both CAL and SpaceCAL particularly promising for space exploration applications. In fact, low-gravity environments may provide an advantage to 3D printing because the absence of gravity minimizes issues with material flow and settlement, improves some material properties, and can increase design freedom.
“With CAL, we were able to do a demonstration on this for the first time [first] “In zero-G missions and now in this spaceflight, we are showing that we can print parts in microgravity that are not possible on Earth,” Waddell said.
These developments are exciting because 3D printing is likely to be an integral part of upcoming space missions. NASA and the European Space Agency have already begun advancing plans for 3D printing on the Moon and the International Space Station.
“By bringing manufacturing technologies with you, you can reduce that amount of growth, get those tasks done faster and reduce risk,” Waddell said.
This could allow astronauts to independently manufacture building materials, tools, medical equipment and replacement parts in the field. “If your spacecraft breaks down, you can print O-rings or mechanical assemblies or even tools,” Waddell said.
With the advances 3D bioprinting“CAL also has the ability to repair crew members,” Waddell added. “We can print personalized dental prosthetics or skin grafts or lenses or things for astronauts in emergency medicine, which is very important on these missions.”
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But 3D-printed objects in space could reach our planet to serve people living on Earth. “The long, long-term goal is to print organs in space with CAL and then bring them back to Earth,” Waddell said.
“These experiments are really focused on pushing technology for the greater good,” he continued. “Even if it’s for space, there are always many ways it can benefit people on Earth.”